The city lay in smouldering ruins. The once tall and proud towers now collapsed beneath their own weighted construction, the wreckage of Empire drop ships lay scattered among the debris, walls destroyed and bodies littered the surrounding ruins. Fires still burned even in the red light of the morning, fires burned on, the smoke had not even cleared that morning. And he...he sat now an arm thrown over one knee watching the chaos in perfect contentment. He watched the flesh peeling and burning, marked and scarred from the magic that had flowed through his veins was now waning away. He had done his part, the princess was now safely on her way out of the city in the more then capable hands of Libertus. There was a groan from behind him. Nyx could feel the magic burning across the flesh on his left hand cheek, creeping and seeping its way into his core. Heaving a sigh Nyx looked around to the fallen body of the once great General. General Glauca. The armor was singed and broken, cracked and bent underneath the weight of the battle both men had just undertaken against one another. It had been a most difficult fight-one Nyx had never experienced before but what a way to end it all. Casting a careful look to Glauca who heaved another blood curdled breath.

"King Regis did what he did for the future," Nyx pointed out. "...Because of him...there's still hope for our homes."

"Hope..." Glauca scoffed, blood drooling down his lips and across his chin. The men would remain unconvinced. After a long heavy moment the General's eyes slowly closed and with a final breath he slipped away leaving Nyx entierly alone in a decaying city. Nyx felt another bit of skin peel from the back of his hand and turned, shuffling in the debris he spun and looked out toward the rising sun. With this sunrise he wanted to see a better future. The sun peeked over the broken debris scattered skyline. The smoke was slowly beginning to dissipate, the cries of fear were now silenced, only the sound of crumbling stone and glass. Peaceful.

"Not the worst way to go..." Nyx muttered to no one but himself. There was no one else to hear him now. Those left alive would be fleeing the city as quickly as they could. For him? Life would not go on, he had made that deal with the King's. Their power in exchange to keep the ring out of the empire's hands for his life which would be taken that morning. Maybe he could finally find peace himself? The scarring on his face stung and burned again.

"Rule well, young king," He muttered aloud. With Regis dead now Prince Noctis would become king...the king of what? The city was destroyed and now in the control of the empire. All Nyx could hope was that Noctis would reclaim it and destroy the empire once and for all. Nyx felt his body screaming at him, he began to lose the feeling in his fingertips. His legs felt like led and flopped uselessly across the debris, his eyes began to grow heavy. Turning Nyx looked at the ground and reached out attempting to pull himself, his arms wouldn't allow and swiftly collapsed beneath his weight. He collapsed forward onto the stone, a sharp corner splitting the flesh of his cheek. His face and arm continued to burn as the sounds faded now...the world became uncomfortably quiet and everything began to blur. Why fight it? Allowing his eyes to shut he opened them once more took in the city and the rising sun before allowing them to drop closed again. His body for the first time in years relaxed fully and he allowed darkness to take him. That was the deal. He too slipped away.

The city was broken beyond repair, at least that's how Libertus saw it. The Niffs had been quick to sweep into the city, magitek troopers were everywhere, the princess was now gone. She had fled among a group of refugees. Libertus didn't quite know what had made him want to return to the city and search...for Nyx. He had lost Crowe before and he wasn't quite ready to accept the idea that he had also lost Nyx. Crowe had been a sister and Nyx a brother. Libertus had dared to dream that perhaps one day all three would return to Galahd and share drinks there and...live happily ever after? Things didn't work out that way. When had anyone ever had a 'happy ending'. The engine of the audi behind him remained running as he tripped and stumbled over the broken debris. The huge carcass of a daemon lay less than 500 feet away one of the large statues of the the old kings crumpled near it. Guess the stories about the Old Wall had been true after all. Pausing briefly Libertus reached into the pocket of his coat and drew the rattling bottle of pills from the inside. Popping the top open he poured a handful onto the palm of his hand and moved to chuck them down his throat and swallow however he paused. He could hear Nyx's voice in his head.

"Looks like you got a little help from something else, huh?" That disapproving look and tone Nyx would always use-Libertus couldn't help it his leg had been shattered and snapped in half. How else would he have made the pain go away? Drawing his hand back down Libertus studied the half a dozen or so pills that lay in his hand and growled, his lip raising in annoyance before allowing his fingers to part and the pills to slip through his fingers. They skittered and scattered across the floor, falling into small holes and partings in the debris. From his other hand he held the bottle firm before launching it across to the east. The bottle rattled through the air before vanishing from sight. Libertus cursed. He knew he shouldn't have come back here, with all the rubble it had been a wonder he had made it so close back to the city's centre. His eyes looked up to the bright sun that was dawning and pushing itself high into the sky above. A new day, what would he do with it? He was lost. He had no purpose, no one to even find after this mess. The Kingsglaive were disbanded, with no King to lead them and no way for any of them to fight like they once had and those who hadn't turned traitor in the midst of it all were few and far between. Should Libertus try and find them? His mind, currently, was leaning towards leaving the damn city and returning home to Galahd to whatever was left of it. What was for him there? It had always been him and Nyx who would have gone back. Libertus stumbled forward now, the pain in his leg strong with no pills left, he stumbled and clambered over the rubble beginning to claw at it.

"Nyx?" He called loudly. "Come on Hero I know you're here somewhere!" Libertus began to feel a lump building in his throat as he spoke. Why were his eyes burning? He clawed at some more of the rubble heaving a large block on concrete up and tossing it to the side. His eyes searched the new hole he'd made only to see a spot appear on the brick below, followed by another. Grey specks and dots. Was it raining? Libertus looked to the skies before feeling the dampness running down his cheeks now, his eyes continued to burn and swell. Cursing he pushed off the ground stumbling to his feet again and wondering forward.

"Nyx!" He bellowed again, though his voice was cracking and squeaking now. Boy if Nyx could hear him now? He was whimpering like a lost puppy. Cursing he stopped in his fruitless search and felt his shoulders sag, his head drop. "Stupid bastard," Libertus hissed. "Just had to go and be the Hero you always wanted to be. And for what Nyx? What do you have at the end of it all? Nothing! You have nothing now-you got to be the hero...but you didn't stop to think maybe some people didn't want you to be that hero! What about Galahd? We were meant to go home Nyx!" Libertus was roaring now. If Nyx was nearby then he would hear him but Libertus was beginning to realize, although he could be stood right on top of Nyx, there would be no response. Shaking his head he brought the back of his hand up and ran it harshly across his eyes drying them, for all of two moments before they swelled wet again. Libertus shuffled and turned crawling back over the rubble toward the audi. A faint glimmer caught his eye. He looked left and noted a body laid peacefully on the rubble. It was the body of Titus Drautos...better known as General Glauca. That bastard. Though it appeared Nyx had been able to defeat him as now he lay dead. Good riddance. All that time and he was only betraying them all. Libertus attempted to gather enough phlegm in his mouth to spit on his corpse but he was halted when he noted the other body lying near Glauca.

"Nyx!" He roared quickly swallowing the phlegm and shuffling across the rubble. "Hold on buddy," Libertus reassured his comrade as he shuffled forward. "Hold on." He was speaking to himself attempting to help his rattling nerves. When he reached Nyx he dropped to his knees, pain flared hot but he ignored it and reached out to his brother pulling at him. Nyx's left arm was burnt bad, it had strange crystalline scarring running down the entire length of his arm and across his left cheek. Libertus studied the body and instantly began to have reflections about Crowe. Her face had been so pale...those eyes were empty. Libertus held Nyx in his arms. What did he have to do? How did he wake Nyx up? Libertus held Nyx close and attempted to convince himself to let go. It was just him now...he'd go home back to that bar of theirs and reopen it. It would be just like old times...right? Libertus felt it then on his arm, a certain heat. Drawing back he looked down only to realize that Nyx was in fact breathing. He was alive. Sniffing and drying his tears Libertus knew he needed to get Nyx out of the city. Regaining himself he grabbed tight hold of his comrade and hoisted him over his shoulder. There was a faint wimper of pain from Nyx.

"Hold on Nyx, I'm going to get you out of here-maybe then all our debts can be settled," Libertus' words were quick and spilt from his mouth as he struggled to return to the car. Steeling himself, he gritted his teeth, ignored the hot pain that sprinted up the left hand side of his body from his crippled bones and hauled Nyx over the rubble toward the awaiting car. They'd get out of this city now. Together.